Very interesting info, Pete! Were banana messengers considered "regular'
employees, who were eligible to bid on other jobs, etc.?
Bob Arthur
In a message dated 3/19/2014 1:52:16 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com writes:
Read some of the old Railroad Magazine stories by E.S.
Dellinger...Specifically "Wheeling the Hotshots"...this story and some others
are based on
the exploits of "Young Runners"...racing Banana Extras" north at passenger
train speed. This would have been in the late teens an early twenties...
Bananas were moved in ice reefers from New Orleans to northern markets ie
Chicago, Minneapolis et cetra...shipments were cared for by Banana
Messengers who accompanied the shipments and took care of opening and closing
the
vents and operating the heaters on the cars.
I encountered one of these messengers in the yard at Ravenna, NE one night
in 1956...He was creeping down a train with a dim "barn" lantern.
I asked the foreman..who that guy was..He said.."That was the banana
messenger....They were recruited from such environs as West Madison St. in
Chicago and other like environs in other cities.
BTW..just so ya know...Bananas were a commodity that actually created heat
as they ripened...That's why the cars had to have someone to regulate the
temperature by opening and closing the vents and lighting and extinguishing
the heaters. If not properly handled the bananas would ripen too rapidly
spurred on by their own self created heat and thus spoil before they reached
destination.
We handled banana claims in the Rock Island Claims Department during my
regime...1964-72.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 19, 2014 11:58 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] What could these crates be?
I believe Eric has solved the mystery of the strange crates found at
various depots along the Burlington. To think our ancestors had
bananas around the turn of the century. What wonders God hath
wrought! Thanks, Eric Archie
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